After nearly three decades of walking across continents, surviving deserts, jungles, war zones, and freezing tundras — one man’s astonishing journey around the world has finally reached its end. Jean Béliveau, a Canadian adventurer who vowed to walk every corner of the Earth using no transport whatsoever, has opened up about the most terrifying moments of his 27-year odyssey — and the two places he says he thought he might never make it out alive.
Béliveau began his journey in 2000 after what he called a “midlife crisis turned spiritual awakening.” Leaving his home in Montreal with just a stroller, a tent, and a small Canadian flag, he set out on foot with a simple rule: no planes, trains, or cars. Only his legs. Twenty-seven years, 75 countries, and more than 55,000 miles later, he’s seen more of Earth than most people could imagine — but he says two places still haunt him to this day.
“I’ve been chased by wild dogs, slept in deserts, crossed mountains — but nothing scared me like those two,” he told BBC News in a new interview. “In both moments, I thought I might die.”
“After walking for 27 years across 75 countries, Jean Béliveau reveals the two places he feared he’d never leave alive.” @guardian
The first, he says, came during his trek through the Somali border region in East Africa — a lawless stretch of land plagued by conflict, armed militias, and desperate poverty. “I was warned not to go,” Béliveau recalled. “But walking around the world means facing what others avoid.” Within hours of crossing, he says, he was surrounded by armed men demanding money. “They shouted in languages I didn’t understand, waving their rifles. I just kept saying, ‘I’m walking for peace.’ It was the truth — and maybe the only reason they didn’t shoot.”
He escaped unharmed but shaken. “You think you’re prepared, but when a gun is in your face, all that courage vanishes,” he told National Geographic. “It’s pure survival mode.”
The second, even darker moment, came years later in the Karakoram Mountains of northern Pakistan — one of the most remote and dangerous regions on Earth. “I was alone, freezing, out of food, and the snow started falling so fast I couldn’t see my own footprints,” he said. “I thought, ‘This is it. This is where they’ll find my bones.’”
“‘The mountains didn’t care that I was tired. They wanted to kill me.’ — Jean Béliveau on surviving Pakistan’s Karakoram range.” @reuters
He spent two nights sheltering beneath a rock ledge, rationing melted snow and scraps of chocolate until a passing truck driver spotted his makeshift camp. “That man saved my life,” Béliveau said. “When I finally reached a village, they treated me like family. I still cry thinking about their kindness.”
Béliveau’s journey, which began as a solo act of self-discovery, evolved into something much larger. Over the years, he became a global symbol of peace and perseverance, meeting with United Nations officials, schoolchildren, and spiritual leaders along his route. “I wanted to prove that the world isn’t as scary as we think,” he told CNN Travel. “But I also learned that some places truly test the soul.”
He’s walked through the Sahara, the Amazon rainforest, and even across Australia’s deadly Outback — facing venomous snakes, 130-degree heat, and weeks without human contact. But what strikes him most, he says, isn’t the danger — it’s the kindness. “For every frightening encounter, there were a hundred moments of love,” he said. “People fed me, sheltered me, prayed for me. Humanity is beautiful.”
“‘I walked through fear, hunger, and loneliness — and still found kindness in every country.’ — Jean Béliveau” @people
Now back in Canada for the first time in nearly three decades, Béliveau says adjusting to normal life has been harder than the walking itself. “The silence is different here,” he told CBC. “Out there, silence means wind, birds, the crunch of your boots. Here, it’s walls, electricity, isolation.”
He plans to write a second memoir — following his first, Walking the World — focusing on the psychological toll of living in constant motion. “I learned that the hardest distance is the one between people,” he said softly. “You can walk around the world, but you can’t outrun loneliness.”
For all its fear and exhaustion, Béliveau says he wouldn’t change a thing. “Every step — even the painful ones — brought me closer to understanding what it means to be human,” he said. “The scary places taught me that courage isn’t about strength. It’s about choosing to keep walking when you want to stop.”
“‘You can walk across the world, but you can’t escape yourself. That’s the real journey.’ — Jean Béliveau” @guardianworld
Asked if he’d ever do it again, Béliveau laughed. “My legs say no,” he said. “But my heart says yes. The road still calls.”
After 27 years of walking and more than 55,000 miles, the man who saw every face of the world — kindness and cruelty, chaos and calm — says his mission is complete. “I left home looking for peace,” he said. “And somewhere between fear and forgiveness, I think I found it.”
